SPORTS: DON’T BET ON IT
Odds shrinking for legalization this year
The odds that Massachusetts lawmakers will legalize sports betting this year are shrinking as state Senate leaders signaled the money-making measure isn’t high on the fall priority list.
“We have to do redistricting, we have to close out the books and do a (supplemental) budget, we need to do a more permanent Votes act, our temporary (provisions) end in December,” Senate President Karen Spilka told State House News Service. “Some of it will depend upon bandwidth and how it stands.”
The House passed a sports betting bill in July — the chamber’s second time doing so — which supporters said could generate up to $70 million in tax revenue annually plus another $80 million every five years for licensing fees.
But a lack of urgency for action on sports betting in the state Senate could mean the measure meets its demise once again.
Lawmakers have tried — and failed — to pass sports wagering legislation since 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the nearly nationwide prohibition as unconstitutional.
A similar sports betting bill died in the Senate last session when Spilka spiked the measure, declaring it was not a legislative priority during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ashland Democrat signaled sports wagering is again low on her list with lawmakers already preoccupied with spending state government’s cache of American Rescue Plan Act funding, closing the books on fiscal year 2021, election reforms, mental and behavioral health parity, and redrawing political district lines.
Thirty states — including neighboring Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire and New York — have all legalized sports wagering in some form, making supporters eager for legalization as the state bleeds money to wagers placed in border states.
On the day of the Patriots’ season opener, Gov. Charlie Baker took to Twitter to give his thoughts on legal sports betting.
He wrote, “Great to see the @Patriots back! We filed a bill in 2019 and again this year to legalize sports betting in MA – it’s time to act and get this done. MA is losing out to many of our neighbors on this one.”
Sports betting has proven to be a slam dunk for the gaming industry and has helped revenues rebound, even as the pandemic rages on across the U.S. It accounts for about 13% of all commercial gaming revenue, with sports wagering revenues up 650% in two years as more states legalize.
The Massachusetts Legislature breaks for the holidays on Thanksgiving, giving lawmakers roughly six weeks to debate and pass a sports betting bill.
Spilka said that as of now, the Senate Ways and Means Committee “is looking at it.”